Rating: **
Review Date: 1/19/14
Director: Tsui Hark
Cast: Sam Hui, Karl Maka, Sylvia Chang, Naomi Otsubo, Peter Graves,
Richard Kiel
More lunacy from Sam Hui and Karl Maka, as this installment decides to lampoon James Bond, "Mission: Impossible", and "The Road Warrior" (1981). An uncanny Sean Connery impersonator tricks master jewel thief King Kong (Sam Hui) into stealing the British crown jewels for him. He initially refuses the job until the sweetly seductive Naomi Otsubo persuades him with her feminine charms. He sets up his good friend Albert "Baldy" (Karl Maka) as an alibi and much silliness goes down. Then Peter Graves (!) shows up to shine light on the situation and convince King Kong, Albert, and Sylvia Chang to steal the jewels back from the villains. Again, much silliness ensues, and the film ends with a Ronald Reagan impersonator approaching the team for another mission.
The film is full of kinetic frenzy and over-the-top stuntwork. Unfortunately, it's all rather tacky and the gratuitous wire work spoils the fun. There's also not nearly as much vehicular mayhem as the earlier films in the series, and action scenes tend to favor miniatures and flimsy props instead of cars and bikes. There is, however, a group of Santa Clauses who wear jet-packs and ride motorcycles, so the film has that going for it. The opening sequence at the Eiffel Tower also has some impressively jaw-dropping moments, including a battle with Richard "Jaws" Kiel and an Oddjob impersonator. The slapstick humor reminded me of why I dislike Hong Kong humor so much, and Hui and Maka appear to be in their element with it. That said, I can only recommend it for action comedy enthusiasts.